COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Rev. Ted Haggard was dismissed
Saturday as leader of the megachurch he founded after a board
determined the influential evangelist had committed "sexually
immoral conduct," the church said Saturday.

Haggard had resigned two days earlier as president of the
National Association of Evangelicals, where he held sway in Washington
and condemned homosexuality, after a Denver man named Mike Jones
claimed to have had drug-fueled trysts with him. He also had
placed himself on administrative leave from the New Life Church,
but its Overseer Board took the stronger action Saturday.

"Our investigation and Pastor Haggard's public statements
have proven without a doubt that he has committed sexually immoral
conduct," the independent board said in a statement.

Haggard was "informed of this decision," the statement
said, and he "agreed as well that he should be dismissed."

Haggard, 50, on Friday acknowledged paying Jones for a massage
and for methamphetamine, but said he did not have sex with him
and did not take the drug.

The statement from the 14,000-member church said the investigation
would continue, to determine how extensive Haggard's misconduct
was. The Rev. Mike Ware of Victory Church in Westminster, a member
of the board, declined to characterize what investigators found.

Haggard did not answer his home or mobile phones Saturday,
and neither phone was accepting messages. Jones did not return
a phone message seeking comment.

The Rev. Ross Parsley will lead the church until a permanent
replacement for Haggard is chosen by the end of the year, the
statement said. A letter explaining Haggard's removal and an
apology from him will be read at Sunday services.

Haggard's situation is a disappointment to Christian conservatives,
whom President Bush and other Republicans are courting heavily
in the run-up to Tuesday's election.

Many of them were already disheartened with the president
and the Republican-controlled Congress over their failure to
deliver big gains on social issues even before the sex scandal
broke involving former GOP Rep. Mark Foley.

Haggard, who had been president of the evangelical association
since 2003, has participated in conference calls with White House
staffers and lobbied Congress last year on Supreme Court nominees.

Haggard visited the White House once or twice, Deputy Press
Secretary Tony Fratto said Friday.

The board's decision cuts Haggard off from the massive church
he founded in the mid-1980s. He held New Life's first services
in the unfinished basement of his Colorado Springs home.

James Groesbeck, a church elder, said he was glad the investigative
board acted quickly.

"I'm saddened by what came out, but I think they've done
their job," Groesbeck said by telephone. Church members
are drawing strength from one another and are caught up in the
activity, but that likely will change, he said.

"I think it's going to be really difficult in a week
or two," Groesbeck said.

Jones, who said he is gay, said he was upset when he discovered
who Haggard was and found out that the New Life Church had publicly
opposed same-sex marriage _ a key issue in Colorado, with a pair
of issues on Tuesday's ballot.

Jones also said Haggard snorted methamphetamine before their
sexual encounters to heighten his experience but has denied selling
drugs. He agreed to take a lie-detector test Friday; the administrator
of the test said the answers about his sex allegations "indicated
deception."

Haggard told reporters he bought meth but never used it; he
said he received a massage from Jones after being referred to
him by a Denver hotel. Jones said that no hotel referred Haggard
and that he advertises only in gay publications.

In a TV interview this week, Haggard said: "Never had
a gay relationship with anybody, and I'm steady with my wife,
I'm faithful to my wife."

Church member Christine Rayes, 47, said the congregation had
hoped the allegations "were all lies."

"We all have to move forward now," she said. "This
doesn't make what Ted accomplished here any less. The farther
up you are, the more you are a target for Satan."

Key Evangelical Quits Amid
Gay Sex ClaimThe leader of the 30
million-member National
Association of Evangelicals, a vocal opponent
of same-sex marriage, resigned Thursday
after being accused of paying for sex with a man
in monthly trysts over
the past three years.

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